Research Methods for Studying Groups and Teams: A Guide to Approaches, Tools, and Technologies

This volume provides an overview of the methodological issues and challenges inherent in the study of small groups from the perspective of seasoned researchers in communication, psychology and other fields in the behavioral and social sciences. It summarizes the current state of group methods in a format that is readable, insightful, and useful for both new and experienced group researchers. This collection of essays will inspire new and established researchers alike to look beyond their current methodological approaches, covering both traditional and new methods for studying groups and exploring the full range of groups in face-to-face and online settings.

The volume will be an important addition to graduate study on group research and will be a valuable reference for established group researchers, consultants and other practitioners. The essays in this volume when considered as a whole will be a contemporary interdisciplinary integration on group research methods.

Andrea B. Hollingshead is Professor of Communication in the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. She has joint appointments in the Marshall School of Business and the Department of Psychology and is co-director of the Annenberg Program for Online Communities Research Initiative. Professor Hollingshead's research concerns the factors and processes that lead to effective and ineffective knowledge sharing in work groups. Her research also addresses how groups collaborate and create community using communication technologies.

Marshall Scott Poole is a Professor in the Department of Communication and Director of the Institute for Computing in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His current research foci include team behavior in massive multiplayer online games, the use of information technology in emergency response, and integrating theories of small groups and social networks in the explanation of large, dynamically changing groups and intergroup networks.